FOREVER MINE

by Michelle Lee

  I start to pace. I am afraid to go too far what if he says something to me and I miss it? I can’t watch him with her. I can’t look at the smile on her cracked and bloody mouth knowing he put it there. The bruises and the pain she has endured because of this man, and now she is acting so comfortable with him.

  I walk back over to the screen just in time to see Michael rubbing lotion on her legs. I feel sick. I hate how he touches her. Then the most unspeakably horrifying thing happens; he kisses her and she kisses him back.

  “No, she can’t be falling for his act. She can’t give up now.” I sit on the floor with my head in my hands and try to think of everything I saw. “Where could they be?” I don’t have a computer here but even if I did could I use it without Michael knowing? He always seems to know what I’m doing and where I am.

  I get up and pace the area. I look in corners, on shelves, in the cracks in the walls; I can’t find anything that could be a camera. He is probably using the camera on the laptop. I take the piece of paper out of my pocket and tear a 2x2 inch square off the corner. I place it over the built in camera on the laptop and wait to see what, if anything, Michael does.

  Just as I start to think I’ve got one thing going for me, the screen showing Charlie sleeping, goes black. I panic. I can’t, not see her. Maybe he is bluffing. I wait about 10 minutes and when the screen still remains black, I remove the paper. Instantly I am rewarded with Charlie’s image.

  My phone beeps signaling a text message. I pull it from my pocket, look at the screen and see it is a blocked caller. I touch the message icon to open the text and it says; Don’t play games. You won’t get a second warning.

  I put my phone back in my pocket and wait for Michael to tell me what to do next. For now I will play it his way. For now.

  CHAPTER 72

  Michael walks out of Charlie’s room and is flying high. “I think I may have gotten her to see things my way.” He stops halfway into the dark room, where he found Charlie hiding only days ago, and pulls on a cord. A section of the ceiling opens up and a set of stairs unfolds out of the opening. He walks up the stairs and pulls them closed again; closing the hole like it was never there.

  Up in the main building he goes to the kitchen area and starts to make her something to eat. While he waits he goes to his office and looks at his monitors. He watches Brody as he paces around Charlie’s apartment. He looks very distraught. He turns and looks at the laptop, takes a piece of paper out of his pocket and rips a corner. Then, he covers the camera lens, and the screen goes dark.

  “I can’t believe it took you so long.” I smile to myself thinking how he must be so proud of himself. In reality he is an idiot. It took him until now to figure out that the computer has a webcam. He works with and fixes computers; he should have figured it out on day one. I hit a button and turn his feed of Charlie off and wait for him to remove the paper.

  When only 10 minutes goes by, the paper comes off and a panicked Brody is visible on the screen. I take out my phone and text him. He is only a very thin line away from totally loosing it. I need to keep working him. He will be a basket case when I finally tell him where go.

  I watch as Brody reads the text and puts his phone away. He sits down on the floor and waits. “Good boy, Brody.” I laugh thinking how easy he is to control.

  Walking back to the kitchen I check on Charlie’s soup. I hope she can keep this down. It is a shame things had to go so badly for her but it worked out in my favor in the end. She is much more submissive now.

  I make up a tray with soup, water, toast, and of course a rose, and take it to her room. When I get there she is still sleeping. I place the tray on the table. Walking back to the bed, I watch her sleep for a minute and then I climb in next to her; pulling her to me and wrapping my arms around her.

  I lay holding her for awhile. She finally starts to stir and I kiss her forehead to wake her fully. She opens her eyes and smiles up at me. My heart melts. “Good morning, beautiful.” I kiss her swollen eye lid.

  “How long did I sleep?” Her voice is hoarse, like a pack a day smoker.

  “Not too long, you will probably sleep for quite awhile once you eat.”

  “I am really hungry.” She smiles shyly as she admits her hunger.

  “Well, good, I made up some soup.” I get up and walk over to the table. “Do you want to eat here or there?”

  “I don’t think I can get up, I’m so tired. But I also don’t want to lie here anymore.” She pushes herself up and walks over to the table.

  I sit in front of her and watch as she eats the soup and drinks the water like they are a gourmet meal. She eats like a starved child; all hands and noises. She has so much toast in her mouth her cheeks are puffed out. She looks up and stops chewing.

  “Sorry,” She mumbles with her mouth full, “I am really hungry. I guess I got lost in my food and forgot my manners.” She laughs nervously.

  “It’s alright, Charlie. Just eat, if you want more I can get it for you.” I reach over and brush some crumbs off her bottom lip. She looks at me and smiles.

  “Thanks. I think I would like some more.”

  I get up from the table and walk to her side. She turns to face me and offers her hand to me. I take it helping her to her feet. She is standing so close I can smell the soap I washed her with. I pull her closer to me, knowing Brody can see everything we are doing, and I touch her cheek, cupping her face in my hands I lean toward her and capture her mouth with mine.

  She doesn’t respond right away, but when she does it is heaven. She kisses me like I remember. She is always shy until she finds her confidence then she is a force. Swept up in the passion she is offering I pick her up and take her back to her bed. I lay next to her and while deepening the kiss I run my hands up her side. I feel the skin under her shirt and she gasps a little.

  “Wait, Michael, can we please slow down a little? I am still really sore. I think my soup may be making a return visit.” She reaches up and strokes my face; begging with her eyes.

  “You have to know how impatient I am to be with you again, but I will wait until you no longer feel sick.” I kiss the tip of her nose and roll off the bed. Standing I grab the tray off the table and adjust my pants. “I don’t think you need anything else to eat, I will get you something for your stomach and be back.”

  “Thank you. Oh, and Michael, I appreciate you being so understanding.”

  “Just remember I am not a patient man. You won’t get much time; I’ve waited too long for you, Charlie. I suggest you rest and build your strength. You will defiantly need it.” With that I turn and leave her room.

  CHAPTER 73

  Charlie lies in bed knowing she is being watched. She is so tired and her body is so sore. The pain in her head is finally just a dull ache. Her lip isn’t splitting open, everytime she moves her mouth, anymore. If she tries really hard she can open her swollen eye a crack.

  She is thinking about how long she has been here. If she was only down in that awful hole for one day today would be Tuesday, July 2nd. It is only two days until Brody’s birthday. No I can’t think about him. It hurts too much.

  When I was down in that dark hole alone, I realized that I will never see him again. Even if I give Michael everything he wants he is still going to kill me. I cannot think about Brody now or I will not be able to do what I need to. I will not let Michael win. I just need time to figure out how to do what I must.

  As she lies in bed her eyes get heavier and heavier, before she knows it she is fast asleep.

  The door to her room opens and someone walks in. Charlie is too tired to roll over and talk to Michael. When a small cold hand rubs her hair away from her face she stops breathing. She slowly rolls over and comes face to face with her mom.

  The sob that breaks forth from her mouth is uncontrollable. It comes from regret and loneliness. She wraps her arms around her waist and cries into her mother’s lap, as she strokes her hair like she did when she was a little girl.

  “Mom,
how, why are you here?”

  “Sweetheart, I am always here for you.” She smiles and the beautiful crinkles around her eyes appear, telling everyone she loves to smile and does so often, wrinkles be damned.

  “But you, your accident, you…” I look at her memorizing her face; the light brown curly hair, her beautiful blue-ish eyes, her full cheeks and her thin upper lip that we used to tease her about because it didn’t match the full bottom one. She is wearing a yellow sun dress and has her hair piled up on top of her head. She looks so pretty.

  She presses a finger to my mouth, “Shhh, sweetie, you need to listen to me. We don’t have a lot of time. You need to get out of here.”

  “I can’t. He is smart and strong. I can’t beat him at this. He has planned for too long. He has a way to handle anything I do to him. I know he is going to kill me mom.”

  She holds my face between her hands and she looks deep into my eyes, “No, you are not going to let that happen. No matter what, do not let him kill you.”

  “I don’t know how to stop him.” I cry harder now. She hugs me tightly to her.

  “I love you, Charlie. I miss you every day, and I’m sorry I didn’t see what was going on with the two of you. I thought one day Brody would just come to the rescue and take you away.”

  “I love you too, mom. Please don’t apologize. I lied to everyone. I cut people out of my life to protect my secret. And Brody did come to the rescue; he saved me, more times than I can count. I am trying to save him now.”

  We don’t speak anymore; I just cry and cry, until there’s nothing left. When I hear the door open I stir and realize I am holding and crying into my pillow. I was dreaming. It felt so real. I put my head back down and try to sleep as Michael climbs into bed with me. I can’t stand him touching me.

  I roll away from him so he is draped around the back of me. His head is against my neck and I feel his hot breath. I try to ignore it and rest. I need to heal and I need him to give me more time to think of a way out of this mess.

  CHAPTER 74

  Chris and Patrick are still at the prison. When they arrived here last night, it was total chaos. The guards were trying to regain control of all the inmates. They had to pepper spray everyone. Then put them in their cells. Finally once all the doors were closed and a head count was done, they knew that there were only a couple casualties.

  They interviewed everyone involved; the guards, the inmates, the cook, and even the doctor who took care of all the injuries. No one knew anything. Just as they were getting ready to leave, Patrick noticed a piece of paper on the floor in front of one of the cells. He casually walks over and picks it up.

  The only thing written on the paper was a name: Officer Ford. Patrick looks at the name. He walks over to where Fitz is talking to another Corrections officer. “Hey, Chris, did we speak with a Officer Ford?”

  Looking at his notes, he says, “nope. I don’t have a record of anyone with that name.”

  The other officer answers, “That’s because he left right before you guys got here. He wasn’t supposed to work today. He filled in for someone, and we told him to leave when the shift was over. We have his statement of what happened. The local police were here and everything was taken care of by the book. Why do you ask?”

  “I found a piece of paper with his name on it.”

  “Can we have his address and personal information? We need to pay him a visit.” Fitz asks.

  “Sure, sure. Just give me a minute to get it for you.” He walks away and leaves them in the hallway.

  “What do you think it means? Do you think he was involved more than he claimed?” Patrick asks.

  “I don’t know. No one here is going to fess up to writing the name either, so we start with the officer, then we may have to come back and start asking inmates what they know about him.”

  “It’s in the middle of the night; do you think he is going to be awake?”

  “No, but we’ll have agents French and Keller wake him, then we’ll disappoint him with our ugly mugs and hit him with the hard questioning.” He smiles and wiggles his eyebrows.

  “Where are the ladies? Are they still interviewing the doctor?”

  Fitz smiles, “I think the doctor wanted to give French a physical, if you know what I mean.”

  “Keller wouldn’t let her even think about going there, would she?”

  He looks very serious, “You know, we have really shitty hours, we can’t see our families if we have one, forget dating, so we are it for each other. If something comes up like a little harmless flirting with a doctor no less, we will put up with it for the sake of our partner.” His serious face melts into a devilish smirk, “and if the flirting leads into a one night stand, we put a sock on the door as we leave for the all night diner down the road, ya know what I mean?”

  Laughing Patrick answers, “Yeah, I guess I shouldn’t judge Keller too harshly, I don’t know her well at all.”

  “No you don’t. That’s why she so abrasive with you. She is really a lot of fun once you get her to trust you.”

  “I will work harder not to be a douche around her.”

  Fitz is still laughing when the officer returns with Fords info. “Well here you go. I tried to call him to wake him up, but his phone went to voicemail.”

  “That’s fine. I like to surprise people.”

  The corridor of prisoners’ breaks into hoots and hollers, as the two female agents walk into the area. They stroll down the walkway heads held high not making eye contact. The fowl and crude things being said are ignored, as well as the men grabbing and foundling themselves, giving step by step instructions on what they can do with their manhood. It is really pathetic how men act when sex starved.

  “It should be a court appointed punishment for a woman who gets arrested for prostitution multiple times to have conjugal visits with inmates. It would stop prostitution, a little, and help settle the inmates.” French says.

  They all stare at her. “What?”

  “Nothing, let’s go get Ford out of bed.”

  As the leave the prison, Keller looks at French and shakes her head, “You know with that statement you set women back 50 years.”

  “Oh, come on, I wasn’t totally serious.” She is grinning like the Cheshire cat; big and toothy.

  When they arrive on the scene, there are fire trucks everywhere. Police have set up crime tape and reporters are trying to talk over and tackle each other to get the best pictures and sound bites for the early morning news stories.

  Fitz gets out of the car, “stay here, I’ll find out what happened.” He walks away and shows his badge to the man in charge. They talk for what feels like hours. It has been so long since Patrick has had any sleep. He isn’t alone, he is just the only one not used to it.

  Keller walks over with a little paper cup full of coffee, and hands it to him. “You look like you could use this. I carry around a thermos full of coffee all the time. We don’t sleep much when we are on a case like this.”

  “Thanks. I was just thinking about how long it’s been since I have had a full night’s sleep.”

  “Yeah it takes some time to get used to, but you’re hangin’ in there.” She is smiling as she says it.

  “I think you’re just trying to be nice.”

  She nudges him gently in his ribs with her elbow, “Na, I don’t know how to be nice. If I wanted to be nice I would just throw you a compliment. Like I think your slight Boston accent is absolutely adorable.”

  Patrick chokes a little on his coffee, “Really. Well, thanks, I think. I really don’t think anyone has ever called anything about me adorable.”